Delayed Breach Response Costs Businesses $217,000: Study Reveals Causes and Solutions

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29 Oct, 2025

Risks of Delayed Response to Security Breaches and Their Impact on Businesses

Rising Security Breach Risks and Slow Response

Impact of Delayed Response to Security Breaches

9-hour delay

in response increases ransomware risk.

79% risk

of ransomware infection with delay.

78% of organizations

faced an email breach.

$217,068

average cost of attack recovery.

Recent reports indicate that delayed response to security breaches significantly increases companies' exposure to cyber risks. Specifically, experts warned that a delay of more than nine hours in addressing an email security breach substantially raises the likelihood of ransomware attacks. A study conducted by Barracuda Networks, involving nearly 2,000 IT and security leaders across multiple regions globally, revealed that approximately 78% of organizations experienced at least one email breach in the past twelve months. Among these organizations, 71% were also subjected to ransomware attacks. The study confirmed that companies taking more than nine hours to respond to an attack face a 79% risk of ransomware infection. Barracuda's 2025 report on email security breaches indicates that the average cost of recovering from these attacks now stands at $217,068.

The Exorbitant Costs of Ransomware Attacks

Hand pointing to graphs and icons on a whiteboard

Ransomware attacks are particularly dangerous for small businesses. Organizations with up to 100 employees pay nearly $2,000 per employee to recover from an attack, while those with up to 2,000 employees incur costs of about $240 per employee.

Challenges in Detection and Response: Advanced Evasion Techniques

Advanced Evasion Techniques: Detection Challenges

Malware Fragmentation

Dividing attacks into small, hard-to-detect parts.

Obfuscating Instructions and Communications

Through encryption and scrambling to avoid detection.

Manipulating Network Protocols

To bypass traditional security mechanisms.

Surprisingly, only 50% of victims detected a security breach within one hour. Barracuda attributed this delay primarily to attackers' use of advanced evasion techniques (47%), in addition to the lack of automated incident response solutions (44%), which delays threat detection, containment, and removal.

Malware Fragmentation: Into small, difficult-to-detect parts (Fragmentation).
Obfuscating Code and Communications: Through encryption and scrambling (Obfuscation).
Manipulating Network Protocols: To bypass security mechanisms (Protocol-level Evasion).

These methods make it harder for traditional security systems to detect attacks. (Source: ScienceDirect, LinkedIn, ReasonLabs Cyberpedia)

Impact on Reputation and Business Growth

For two out of five (41%), ransomware also led to reputational damage, loss of new business opportunities, and affected growth.

Importance of Rapid Response and a Unified Approach to Protection

Pillars of Effective Cybersecurity

Rapid and Effective Response

To neutralize threats before they escalate.

Unified and Integrated Approach

Through a robust security platform.

Preventing Operational Paralysis

And protecting data and company reputation.

Neil Bradbury, Chief Product Officer at Barracuda, stated: "Email security is no longer just about stopping spam or mass phishing attacks; it's about preventing the first domino from falling in a chain of cyber threats that could end in operational paralysis, data loss, reputational damage, and long-term business impacts."

Bradbury added: "Rapid and effective response to email breaches is critical for overall cyber resilience." He pointed out that "this can be a challenge for many organizations. The results show that the ability to detect and neutralize email incidents is often hampered by increasingly complex and evasive attacks, a lack of internal skills, the absence of automation, and more. A unified approach to protection, focusing on a robust and integrated security platform, is vital."